February 2020

Saving Monticello: The Newsletter

The latest about the book, author events, and more

Newsletter Editor - Marc Leepson

Volume XVII, No. 2                                                       

February 1, 2020

“The study of the past is a constantly evolving, never-ending journey of discovery.” – Eric Foner

THREE-POUND DIAMOND: “The Second-Biggest Diamond in History Has a New Owner.” That headline in The New York Times on January 15 caught my attention because—well, who isn’t interested in the second-biggest diamond in recorded history?

The headline also called to mind something I’d discovered about Jefferson M. Levy twenty years ago while researching Saving Monticello. Going through stacks of newspaper clippings in the archives of the American Jewish Historical Society in New York City back then, I found two 1905 articles about Levy and the “largest diamond on record.” 

Turns out that Jefferson Levy, the big New York City real estate and stock speculator who owned Monticello from 1879-1923, was the largest American stockholder in a syndicate called Premier Diamond that had just extracted a half-pound, 3,032-carat diamond out of a mine near Pretoria, South Africa.

Here’s the gist of what I wrote about that state of events in Saving Monticello: Levy, a “rich speculator,” I noted, “got immensely richer in January of 1905” when the South Africa miners discovered that giant stone

That state of events prompted the New York American on January 30 to ask: ‘Will Jefferson M. Levy, former [and future, as it would turn out] Congressman, capitalist and owner of Monticello, be the diamond king of America? Will his ownership of a large share of the great Premier diamond mine of the Transvaal from which a 3,032-carat stone was taken a few days ago, make the New Yorker a rival of the late Cecil Rhodes?’ ”

Levy, the paper went on to say, “will not say, but he does admit that luck has showered wealth upon him from an unexpected source which may exceed the wildest dreams of his fancy.”

“I really got into this thing quite by accident,’ Levy told the paper, “Constantly I am making investments, and when the diamond shares were offered me at what I considered a very low price, I took them. But even with my real estate and other large holdings, I almost forgot the Premier stock.”

The January 15, 2020, NYT article reported that the baseball-sized second-biggest diamond (below) that was discovered last year was the “the largest rough diamond discovered since 1905.” That 1905 stone, which would become known as Cullinan Diamond, likely was the one that Levy’s Premier Mine unearthed. Levy’s syndicate sold it to the government of South Africa  (then known as The Transvaal), for around $750,000. 

The government subsequently had it cut it up into two giant stones, and in 1907, in a goodwill gesture to help heal the wounds of the long (1899-1902) Boer War, gave the two stones to King Edward VII of England. Today they are incorporated into the English monarchy’s Crown Jewels. You can read the entire New York Times article at http://bit.ly/JMLdiamond

EVENTS: I have one event this month. On Wednesday, February 5, I’ll be doing a talk on Saving Monticello and a book signing at The Village at Orchard Ridge retirement community in Winchester, Virginia.

There’s always the chance that I may add a last-minute talk or signing. For the latest on that, or to check out my other scheduled 2020 events, go to the Events page on my website at http://bit.ly/Eventsandtalks

If you’d like to arrange an event for Saving Monticello, or for any of my other books, feel free to send me email at marcleepson@gmail.com For info on my latest book, Ballad of the Green Beret, go to http://bit.ly/GreenBeretBook

GIFT IDEAS:  Want a personally autographed, brand-new paperback copy of Saving Monticello? Please e-mail me.  I also have a few as-new, unopened hardcover copies, along with a good selection of brand-new copies of my other books.